I'm standing in Payatas.

On July 10th, the mountain of trash

behind me literally blew up, and then buried the shanty town

to my right, killing 209 people.

NARRATOR: It was July, 1997.

Operation Blessing Philippines was a year old.

Founder Gordon Robertson just launched a feeding program

for undernourished children living in Manila's biggest dump

site.

A few weeks later, heavy rains there

caused a massive landslide.

What triggered the activity was a desire

on the part of Operation Blessing in the United States

to do a feeding program to the trash picker

community in Payatas.

So when the landslide came, we were there.

And that started a whole ministry to that community.

And as I'm standing giving food to people in desperate need,

the question came to me.

Well what happens in two weeks?

This food's going to run out in two weeks,

and these people are still going to be here on this trash dump.

And I had to do something about that.

NARRATOR: Since it was founded in 1996,

Operation Blessing Philippines had

been bringing short term medical missions

to remote parts of the country.

With the help of volunteer medical teams,

we'd reached thousands of Filipinos

who had no access to doctors or hospitals.

Now a year later, we had another vision--

to transform disadvantaged families and communities.

That started a whole Payatas program,

where we started feeding malnourished children.

We adopted their families-- not just the children--

but the whole family, and how do we teach livelihood

to the parents?

How do we teach proper nutrition, proper sanitation,

how do we get rid of the intestinal worms?

How do we bring them back into health?

Make sure that children can go to school,

because that's the key.

Long term generationally, for them to advance.

And how do we teach the parents how

to earn a living so they don't have to pick trash anymore.

And we did that successfully with the first group,

and then to my absolute amazement,

the graduates of the first group said we want to help,

we want to train the next group.

And so that's how it just started.

And it just became a great joy.

NARRATOR: While the Payatas community program was underway,

Operation Blessing Philippines was also

helping rebuild lives destroyed by another tragedy

several months earlier.

REPORTER: March 18, 1996 holds a dreadful memory

for the families of the more than 200 young people

celebrating graduation day at the now infamous Ozone Disco.

The majority of them perished in the most tragic fire disaster

of the decade.

The 95 survivors now have burn scars

to remind them of the catastrophe.

At the time of the Ozone Disco fire,

we didn't have much money.

We didn't have many personnel-- I

think our total staff at that point was three people.

And I was praying, and got this verse--

what does God require of you?

And it was to act justly, to love mercy,

and to walk humbly before him.

For me, I had to do something.

I had to extend mercy to these survivors.

NARRATOR: So we took a step of faith,

and made arrangements to bring in a team of plastic surgeons

from the US.

God came through.

He kept providing, kept providing, kept providing.

And the results were thrilling.

Where people got the use of their hands back.

Some got brand new ears, where the surgeons brought

in this wonderful material that skin would grow over,

and they literally sculpted ears for them again.

So it was tremendous.

It was a great thrill.

It was a great struggle while it was going on,

but the results were wonderful.

NARRATOR: In December, 1997, Operation Blessing Philippines

and a team of volunteer doctors began reaching out

to other nations in Asia.

The first foreign medical mission

that we did with Operation Blessing Philippines

was to Shaman, China.

And we went into a Three-Self church in Shaman.

And absolutely wonderful things happened.

And we started seeing miracles happen

in the medical tent, where Christian doctors were praying

for their patients, and seeing miracles.

One of the doctors had actually prayed, Lord,

I've never seen a miracle.

Could I see one on this trip.

And so that was the very first one.

And that really inspired us that we could do this.

And we could do this internationally.

And then, when the flying hospital

went to Hyderabad, India, it just

became natural that a Philippine team

would come alongside as well.

NARRATOR: In the years that followed,

Operation Blessing Philippines went on medical missions

to Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Afghanistan.

It was the model that was followed for OB Indonesia, OB

India, OB Thailand, OB Hong Kong, OB China-- all of them

were modelled on what happened here,

and the experience that we learned here.

NARRATOR: Over the past 20 years,

Operation Blessing Philippines has partnered

with the local government, NGOs, and churches

to help roughly 800 children go to school,

and more than 1,000 people learn a trade.

Nearly 3,000 children get good meals now.

And we've helped more than 4,000 families start businesses.

We've built more than 300 houses, three learning centers,

and almost 30 classrooms.

We've dug water wells for almost 1,000 families,

given more than 6,000 people mobility, and provided surgery

for nearly 3,000 people.

In total, we've treated more than 800,000 people

through our medical missions in hard to reach

areas, and extended aid to more than two million survivors

of natural disasters.

Four separate times, Operation Blessing Philippines

has received the NGO of the Year award

from the armed forces of the Philippines.

Wherever we go, we bring the message of the gospel.

I believe in the gospel.

I believe it transforms people.

That you can take care of the material needs,

but if you haven't taken care of the spiritual needs,

you haven't really done anything for them.

And it's the two working together,

where you have life transformation, where

you have that hand up, you have that hope in a future.

Where here with Delores.

Delores is 68 years old, and last month, she

suffered a stroke and lost the use of her left side,

and she's been bedridden ever since.

Today, we're giving Dolores a wheelchair,

but we're also supplying her with goods for her Sari Sari

store-- it's a small general store--

and now, we want to do something even more.

We want to pray for Delores that God

would come and heal her, and set her free from this stroke.

And so we prayed for her, and then I say, can you get up?

So she stood up, and then she started to walk,

and then we got her to walk from one point to another,

and then it dawned on her, I'm walking.

I haven't been able to do this in a long time.

I'm walking.

And the joy in her face, and the joy all around us, that

was a moment.

That was a wonderful moment.

NARRATOR: In June, 2016, Operation Blessing Philippines

celebrated its 20th anniversary.

The highlight of this milestone event

was our most ambitious program yet.

The Community of Hope in Tacloban City.

It's a brand new community built for more than 300 families

whose homes were destroyed in 2013 by a typhoon.

Operation Blessing Philippines was

on the ground within 24 hours, giving much needed food, water,

temporary housing, medical care to people in desperate need.

But it didn't stop there.

And here we are, 2 and 1/2 years later,

and Operation Blessing is still on the ground working,

and trying to provide homes for people in need.

And we're on our way to completing

a whole village of brand new homes

that will be typhoon resistant, and I couldn't be

prouder of what they've done.

NARRATOR: Dr. Kim Pasqual, head of Operation Blessing

Philippines, says the driving force behind our first 20

years of transforming lives will continue to propel us

into the decades ahead.

It's the passion to love God, to serve God,

and to help people.

If we can create different communities of hope,

we will be able to change the country,

and one of these days, the whole country is a community of hope.

And that's been the story of Operation Blessing Philippines.

We started very small, very humbly.

Just two people in a room, saying

how can we do good for people?

It's grown into this tremendous thing,

and now you look at the ability to actually rebuild

communities.

Over the next 20 years, what can happen?

And how can we say we can believe God for even more,

and what more things can we do?